Lady Gaga Makes a Mini-Movie With ‘Marry the Night’ Video

Lady Gaga‘s ‘Marry the Night’ video is hardly that. It’s a nearly 15 minute, autobiographical mini-movie, directed by the Mother Monster herself. The vid — we’ll call it that for the sake of continuity — opens with the previously released prelude, with Gaga in a brown wig, on a gurney, wheeled by nurses in some sort of psych ward, and it’s a taste of Gaga-as-actress.

The nurse calls her the “morphine princess.” Gaga then says, “I’m gonna make it.” The nurse’s reply: “No intimacy for two weeks.” It makes us wonder if that rumored sex change took place or if she had an abortion or something. Since the video is about her quest for fame and stardom, maybe she had to make sacrifices? You never know. Once again, Gaga got us thinking thanks to her sweeping artistic statements in a video.

Gaga next says, “I’m gonna be a star. You know why?” as she fights back tears. “Because I have nothing left to lose.” She then speaks French and the vid cuts a scene of Gaga as an elegant, graceful ballerina. Then we see her in bed, playing piano naked, destroying a room, eating cheerios, smearing the cereal her face, holding herself in the tub, painting her hair blue and singing the hook of the song.

Years later, an aged, big-haired Gaga appears wearing overly styled denim and heels. In a voiceover, she says, “I lost everything, but I still had my bedazzler and I wreaked havoc on old denim.” What’s life without a bedazzler? And then she says she did “it” all over again. We can only assume the “it” she refers to is the act of chasing stardom.

The action cuts to the dark rooftop, illuminated by the moon and raging fires, while Gaga stuck in the moon roof of a Trans Am with a New York license plate. She is then dancing with her crew in what feels like a rehearsal space on Broadway. A montage of rapid-fire clips from her life and career flash on the screen, and at this point, the vid feels like an arthouse hybrid of ‘Fame,’ ‘Rent’ and ‘Flashdance,’ where we witness the life, times and career of Lady Gaga, pop star in the making.

It is a provocative video that requires five or six viewings to absorb it all. It’s dense with activity and Gaga-esque through and through.